Posted on 06/17/2005 8:28:24 AM PDT by Houmatt
While mainstream newspapers like the Buffalo News generally try to take an even hand with gay issues, sometimes they stumble on their own simple-minded liberalism. On the one hand, mainstream papers like the Buffalo News will come out in support of an issue like gay marriage or the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act, but at the same time, often under the guise of being fair and balanced, they report on gay news events in a way that perpetuates misinformation and serves to define gay people in a very negative way. This is typically fueled by an irrepressible journalistic thirst for the sensational.
A highlight for me was the 1998 Buffalo News article, “Can Homosexuals Change Their Ways Through The Power Of God?” an interview with a sadly damaged man that gave credibility to the preposterous notion that Jesus had saved him from homosexuality. I still use the piece as a textbook example of ignorance in journalism when I teach. A more recent case in point would certainly be Buffalo News coverage of protests of the Gay Men’s Chorus.
In a May 19, 2005 article, “Jewish Review Loses Ads Over Gay Issue; Refused to Run Notice of Event at Beth Zion,” News Staff Reporter Anthony Cardinale reports that, “Temple Beth Zion has decided to withdraw all its advertising from the Buffalo Jewish Review because the weekly refused to print an advertisement about the Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus,” which performed at the temple at 805 Delaware Avenue on January 22, 2005, with the temple’s cantor, David Goldstein.
So far, so good.
But the article quickly veers in another direction. Before giving the details of the action taken against the Jewish Review by the leadership of Buffalo’s largest Jewish congregation, the author hauls in an incident, also heavily reported in the Buffalo News, in which seven individuals with a Right to Life agenda protested a performance by the chorus at Blessed Trinity Catholic Church on April 24, 2005. The News’ original report of this incident, under the headline, “Pro-Life Group Protests Gay Show,” made this minor, ragtag protest (seven protesters v. 700 audience members) seem like a groundswell, and never questioned why a group that exists to oppose abortion was protesting a group that would certainly get my vote for “Least Likely to Become Pregnant.”
Though Cardinale claimed that “the ensuing debate has sparked a flurry of letters, pro and con, to the Buffalo News,” it would probably be more accurate to say that the irresponsible reporting by the Buffalo News deserves some of the credit for inspiring so many letters in the first place. The headline alone, with its salacious “Gay Show” come-on, conjures images of male strippers and a humbling night in Bangkok, rather than an evening of choral music.
The letters inspired by this report are instructive. In one, a well intentioned writer from Williamsville wonders, “Why a gay men’s choir? Personally I don’t see what one’s bedroom practices have to do with one’s ability to carry a tune. Why not just a Buffalo Men’s Chorus? Such a choir would attract the best singers, gay or straight, without putting a label on them that may carry negative connotations or make them unwelcome in some circles.” This seemingly clueless writer has unwittingly gotten the point perfectly. One’s bedroom practices have precisely nothing to do with one’s ability to carry a tune, or hold a job, or fulfill a lease, or raise a child. And yet, in our society, individuals are excluded from the full participation in such activities precisely because they are gay. Thus, we have a gay men’s chorus. This organization provides a social and artistic outlet for gay men in our community, while drawing attention to the fact that your gay neighbors have a positive impact on society and are, in very important ways, the same as everyone else, and deserving of the same rights and respect.
This point is queerly absent from the Buffalo News coverage, which, on the contrary, takes great pains to articulate the opposing view, even when the arguments are specious.
In his May 19 article, Cardinale briskly explains the motivation of Temple Beth Zion Rabbi Harry Rosenfeld and board president Stuart G. Lerman, as expressed in a letter sent to congregation members on May 10. “[T]o exclude or oppress members of our community because of their sexual orientation would be denying their humanity,” wrote Rosenfeld and Lerman.
Well, Rosenfeld and Lerman are heroes in my book! They are ethical leaders who demonstrate the strength of their convictions through their actions. Then Cardinale provides poor, simple Rita Weiss, editor of the Jewish Review, with an opportunity to engage in an embarrassing and prolonged public display of grotesque bigotry and ignorance. By not questioning or qualifying her statements, Cardinale (who, apart from this article, is actually a swell guy) is complicitous in Mrs. Weiss’s agenda.
According to the article, Mrs. Weiss said, “Fervently Orthodox rabbis exhort all of us to deepest compassion for those who cannot seek opposite-gender partners. But we are a family newspaper and don’t refer to sex at all or identify anyone as homosexual or heterosexual.” In the next breath, Mrs. Weiss reveals herself to be far from compassionate and far from indifferent to sexual orientation. In fact, sexual orientation would seem to be one of her primary obsessions. According to Cardinale, “Weiss said she and her [ p r e s u m a b l y heterosexual] husband, Arnold, who own the newspaper, declined to publish the ad on grounds that it might influence young people to experiment with a sexual lifestyle that could be harmful to their health.”
Wow! Now, the letter from Williamsville comes to mind. How can choral singing be harmful to one’s health?
Of course I am being facetious. Mrs. Weiss’s meaning is very clear. She equates homosexuality with AIDS. She is a woefully ignorant person, as deserving of our pity as of our ire, were it not for the fact that she holds great potential to hurt people by spreading her special brand of ignorance and hate. This is especially true if entities like the Buffalo News are willing to empower her.
For the record, homosexuality does not cause AIDS. AIDS is caused by a virus transmitted through the exchange of body fluids with an infected person, male or female, of any sexual orientation, and through a variety of means. We can understand Mrs. Weiss’s confusion, up to a point, as the disease was first recognized in the gay male and in the Haitian refugee populations. Over time, various groups have been identified as high risk because of sexual and other behaviors—intravenous drug users, for example. At one point, individuals with hemophilia were among the highest risk groups—though not any more. At present, African American women suffer one of the highest rates of HIV infection; can we presume that the Jewish Review would refuse an advertisement for a Black Women’s Chorus? Unless Mrs. Weiss’s racism is as potent as her homophobia, I suspect not. Gay men are no longer the only, or even primary HIV risk group. In fact, gay men who do not engage in unsafe sex (or who do not share needles) are no more at risk than anybody else.
Still, anti-gay bigotry continues to color public policy. It can be argued that government was slow to respond to the AIDS crisis because the disease was first recognized among the gay male population. More government money was spent in the first weeks of the Toxic Shock Syndrome scare than in all of the early years of the AIDS epidemic. In the early 1980s, there were many who felt that those with AIDS deserved their fate. Such attitudes continue. There are those who equate homosexuality with child molestation. It is still difficult to get law enforcement in some communities to take crimes against gay people seriously.
So, Mr. and Mrs. Weiss equate homosexuality with AIDS.
Having already exposed herself to be a fool, Weiss makes a bid for all out self-humiliation by continuing, “On a very practical basis… there is the possibility of influencing some young people whose sexual development is not yet complete. They could get AIDS. They could try out a lifestyle that is life-threatening.”
As tasteless as it is to observe, Mrs. Weiss, there have been times and places where it was life-threatening to be Jewish. Why do we need a Buffalo Jewish Review? Why not just a Buffalo Review? Such a Review would attract the best writers, Jewish and gentile, without putting a label on them that may carry negative connotations or make them unwelcome in some circles.
Dear, dear, Mrs. Weiss, on a very practical basis… there is NO possibility of in- fluencing young people whose sexual development is not yet complete by exposing them to the Gay Men’s Chorus. There is a possibility that some young gay boy will be less self-loathing. There is a possibility that young people will grow up to be less bigoted than you. But it is not possible to recruit homosexuals the way one would recruit a Moony or a Skinhead. It just doesn’t work that way. For (and this one is directed to both Mrs. Weiss and the writers at the Buffalo News) homosexuality is not a lifestyle. Farm-life is a lifestyle. Show-business is a lifestyle. Being rich is a lifestyle. Homosexuality is a sexual orientation—not even a preference —just an orientation.
Mrs. Weiss went on to add some pretty scary comments about “the perpetuation of the Jewish people.” She told Anthony Cardinale that “Jews everywhere are concerned about assimilation and the demographic numbers that show a decline in the growth of the Jewish community outside Israel,” and that “All of the Jewish organizations are concerned… because we’re going to need support in the future for all of the needs of our aging population.”
In my experience, Mrs. Weiss, it is usually the gay child who ends up caring for the old. Think about it.
The author is a crank and a nihilist and a dreamer. What a superb combination.
That is such a bunch of obvious nonsense. If you are mentally or emotionally "oriented" in contradiction to how you are physically oriented, then I have to go with the physical part. The MOST a person could potentially "prove" is they are bisexual. They are clearly physically heterosexual. So if they want to validate their homosexual desire, then they can really only claim to be bisexual. There is no such legitimate thing in the human race as a homosexual. All are heterosexual.
"Dear, dear, Mrs. Weiss, on a very practical basis… there is NO possibility of influencing young people whose sexual development is not yet complete by exposing them to the Gay Men’s Chorus."
And you back that up with... oh yeah... NOTHING!
Dear, dear, condescending moral relativist, on a very practical basis... showing acceptance of homosexuality does influence confused young people who's sexual development is not complete. That's why you guys start Gay and Lesbian student associations for high school kids. You want to get them when they're young and confused.
"Dear, dear, condescending moral relativist, on a very practical basis... showing acceptance of homosexuality does influence confused young people who's sexual development is not complete. That's why you guys start Gay and Lesbian student associations for high school kids. You want to get them when they're young and confused."
That's so true. These people should be put in jail.
Gays aren't allowed in chorus groups? Bulls***. Maybe if they flaunt their homosexuality, then it's a different story. There's no Gestapo that goes around looking into this stuff. The only Gestapo out there is the anti-Christian one.
"Gays aren't allowed in chorus groups? Bulls***."
Oh, poor dear, you seem to have been under the misimpression that this was about equal rights. It has always been and will always be about special treatment.
"Mrs. Weiss went on to add some pretty scary comments about “the perpetuation of the Jewish people.”"
Why is that scary? Is the writer jewish himself? I sense some anti-semitism here.
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